1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric vehicle in the form of an in-wheel motor driven vehicle or the like of a type having motors for driving individual wheels, such as, for example, a battery powered drive or a fuel battery powered drive.
2. Description of Related Art
In an electric vehicle, an in-wheel motor drive system of a type that can contribute to an improvement in driving stability of the vehicle and to an enhanced availability of a vehicle effective space. For example, a vehicle of a type, in which four wheels are driven by respective in-wheel motor drive systems, and a vehicle of a type, in which two wheels are driven by respective in-wheel motor drive systems and the remaining two wheels are used as driven wheel, are currently available in the market. Even in an electric vehicle of a type that employs no in-wheel motor drive system, an electric vehicle of a type which makes use of motors for driving individual wheels is also available in the market.
In the vehicle of a type in which four wheels or two, left and right wheels are driven by individual motors such as, for example, in-wheel motor drive systems, in the event of failure of one of the motors used to drive one of the wheels, application of a braking force to the motor in trouble leads to the spinning of the vehicle. In order to secure a postural stability of the vehicle at that occasion, both of the left and right motors are stopped.